Tales from the Emporium

[NordieBoy]

Thought you were waiting until you were able to race it in VMX?!

Oi!
It's not that bad.
Just 14000 odd km + whatever the previous owner did...

[Transalper]

Oi!
It's not that bad.
Just 14000 odd km + whatever the previous owner did...

Are you serious... talking about between oil changes? If so I'd say that's very naughty.

[NordieBoy]

Very naughty.
Oil was black with no debris.

Now my bash plate is held on with plastic zip-ties it should be easier to do.
Going to set up a 5000km schedule now...

[cooneyr]

Very naughty.
Oil was black with no debris.

Now my bash plate is held on with plastic zip-ties it should be easier to do.
Going to set up a 5000km schedule now...

Ahem just a little bit naughty.

Time to make a hole in your bashplate for access to the oil drain bung?

Cheers R

[warewolf]

It's not that bad.

...... ah forget it, it's already been said!

[NordieBoy]

I never used to look at the odometer 'till this bike.
My brother reminds me we did an oil change when I got it.

That's the problem with 4 bikes.
Always doing oil changes and not writing down which bike was done when.
This is the first bike where I've got a spreadsheet of things I've done to it along with the date and odo.

One thing, the DR is sooo much easier and less messy to do an oil change on than the Nordie.

[NordieBoy]

Anyone have any problems with the stock chain stretching unevenly?

[warewolf]

That's the problem with 4 bikes.
Always doing oil changes and not writing down which bike was done when.
This is the first bike where I've got a spreadsheet of things I've done to it along with the date and odo.

Yup, documentation is useful. I've got mine set up with conditional formatting (colours) to show when service items are approaching and due. Some of the $/100km calculations are interesting, too.

Way back when, I'd worked out that for every dollar spent on fuel on my CBX250, it cost me a dollar in servicing (tyres/chains/oil etc) and another dollar in fixed costs (rego, insurance). Sad but true!

Scotty/mickeyboy had their oil change noted on some gaffer tape under the seat... low-tech effective solution.

[NordieBoy]

Looks like it's costing about $0.16 per km so far including everything except purchase price.

[warewolf]

$21.75 / 100km for the 640 includes everything (1290L of PULP) except purchase or insurance. Also includes the first two services which were dealer jobs (quadruples the cost) and three times as many engine oil & filter changes as you do...

Take out the petrol and it is $14.05 / 100km. Putting it another way, it costs nearly twice as much in servicing costs as it does in fuel. The single biggest service expense being tyres at roughly $5.50 / 100km (the cheap Kenda offset the expensive TKC80), followed by chain & sprockets at about half that.

[NordieBoy]

and three times as many engine, oil & filter changes as you do...

How many times have you changed your engine?

Petrol looks to be about 8c per km and the rest (inc all farkling) is another 8c.
Will go up at the first chain/sprocket change though.

[Crisis management]

You two are all a bit frightening!

I just ride the bike and try and not fall off, I didn't know I had to record the details as well!

[cooneyr]

How many times have you changed your engine?

Petrol looks to be about 8c per km and the rest (inc all farkling) is another 8c.
Will go up at the first chain/sprocket change though.

I'm curious - whats the cost of a set of sprockets and a decent chain? I'm probably up for a drive train refresh around Christmas time. Thinking about going with a factory XF 650 (Freewind) 43 tooth rear sprocket (DR stock is 41) and factory DR650 15 tooth front with a DID V or VM2 (Not sure which yet) X-ring chain.

Front sproket ~$40?
Rear Sproket ~$100?
Chain ~$250?
Total ~$400

Cheers R

[warewolf]

How many times have you changed your engine?

Because the oil & filters are changed frequently, none; long may it continue.

Petrol looks to be about 8c per km

snap!

and the rest (inc all farkling) is another 8c.
Will go up at the first chain/sprocket change though.

Biggest difference is tyres, your Mitas E-07 at what is it now, 12,000km? has lasted 3x my best so far - and it was probably cheaper.

Interesting that the DR-Z250 ran at $41.82 / 100km without fuel costs. But the DR-Z was also trail-ridden; road/trail is more intense than road/adventure.

[NordieBoy]

I'm curious - whats the cost of a set of sprockets and a decent chain? I'm probably up for a drive train refresh around Christmas time. Thinking about going with a factory XF 650 (Freewind) 43 tooth rear sprocket (DR stock is 41) and factory DR650 15 tooth front with a DID V or VM2 (Not sure which yet) X-ring chain.

Front sproket ~$40?
Rear Sproket ~$100?
Chain ~$250?
Total ~$400

Cheers R

I'm tempted to go to a 520 setup at the chain/sprocket change.
Cheaper and bigger choice of sprockets (but I'd still go with 14t front and 42t rear ).


And if you hadn't noticed, I like changing things

Stock front sprocket is about $30